Navya driverless shuttles to begin ferrying University of Michigan students this fall

Navya will deploy two of its driverless multi-passenger shuttles this fall at the University of Michigan, moving students autonomously between Michigan’s North Campus Research Complex and its Lurie Engineering Center across a two-mile route. The 15-passenger vehicles are being deployed in conjunction with Mcity, the University of Michigan-led partnership with autonomous private industry players that’s designed to bring driverless tech to market safely and quickly.

The Navya’s Arma shuttles used in this deployment are equipped with GPS, cameras, Wi-Fi and LiDAR, and they’ll be tested not only on how they operate, but also on how passengers react to them and use them, as well as how others sharing the roads, including pedestrians and cyclists, react to their presence. They’ll operate during regular business hours at the outset, and be available for free, with plans to expand how long they run each day should everything go well.

Navya also announced that it’s going to be manufacturing its vehicles at a location in Southeast Michigan earlier this week, with an assembly facility that’s set to begin operations by the end of this year.